New Barnstable Market opens in village center

Thursday

Feb 23, 2012 at 12:01 AMFeb 23, 2012 at 11:12 PM

Barnstable Market opened last Friday with no fanfare, but area residents quickly discovered it and were perusing the spacious aisles, checking out all the grocery offerings and digging into the penny candy jars by Sunday afternoon.

Susan Vaughn

Barnstable Market opened last Friday with no fanfare, but area residents quickly discovered it and were perusing the spacious aisles, checking out all the grocery offerings and digging into the penny candy jars by Sunday afternoon.

The new market in the center of Barnstable Village on Route 6A has a new look from the previous general store, with bright lighting, soft gray-green walls, burnished wood flooring that still has an old general store feel and several Oriental-type rugs scattered about.

The store has a full grocery, meats and deli, bakery and fresh produce. Its coolers and new wooden racks are ready for beer and wine once the store gets liquor license approvals, co-owner Jeff Blankenship said.

“It has everything we wanted,” Blankenship said Tuesday, referring to the new store. He said more offerings, such as ready-made dinners, soups and pizza, are in the works. “We’re getting service to where it’s smooth running, then we’ll have a grand opening.” No date has been set for the grand opening.

The former Barnstable General Store property was sold on Aug. 19 for $1.5 million to Frank Ward. Blankenship and Brian Smith are co-owners of the store only. Blankenship also is manager of Peterson’s Market in Yarmouth Port and Smith owns Fancy’s in Osterville, which accounts for similar offerings at all three stores. Blankenship called the new store “a mix of Peterson’s and Fancy’s.”

The former Barnstable General Store owners were Joseph and Brenda Ferraro.

The entire property includes two buildings of 9,864 square feet and 1,773 square feet and a three-quarter acre parking lot. There are six additional rented units in the buildings, according to the real estate transaction documents. The 2011 assessed value of the land was $260,200 and of the buildings, $18,700.

Meagher Construction did both the exterior and interior renovations. The exterior work included new light tan siding with white trim and new windows and doors.

The market hours are currently 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., but it could start opening earlier, Blankenship said.